A Nurse's Life in War and PeaceLaurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
History
A Nurse's Life in War and Peace
Laurence, E. C. (Eleanor Constance)
Military nursing; Nursing -- Great Britain; South African War, 1899-1902 -- Medical care
It is always a shaky journey up from Durban, but we got some sleep, and
the next morning, when we were having breakfast at Glencoe, we were
delighted to meet Major ----, of the Royal Engineers, an old patient of
ours, who has done splendid work up this side; he was going down to
Ladysmith.
A little farther on we met two officers who had come out in the _Canada_
with us, so they came into our carriage, and shared our lunch, and we
brewed some tea with my tea-basket. At Newcastle General Hilliard was on
the platform, and also a sister whom we knew.
We had no sooner reached our destination than Sergeant C. came up to
welcome us--he had been at Pinetown--and also went home with us; he does
not seem at all pleased at being sent here, and is already trying to get
a change.
This hospital has been a "Stationary Hospital" up to now, but is just
being turned into a "General Hospital," so they say it is in rather a
muddle at present.
Sister ---- and I were allotted a tent with just bed and
blankets--nothing else; we were not required on duty that day, so we
went down to the coolie store and invested in some cheap sheets, a
bucket, basin, &c.; also table fittings, as they told us no plates,
cups, knives, or anything were provided. Many people out here prefer to
sleep in blankets, but as the army blankets are dark brown, rather of
the texture of horsecloths, and as these were obviously not new (and the
washing and disinfecting of army blankets in a satisfactory way is still
an unsolved problem out here), we preferred to put some sheets in
between!
The air is lovely and fresh up here, where we are 5000 feet above the
sea-level--always hot sun in the day, but very cold nights.
A most unfortunate thing occurred the first night we were here: a
sister, who came out in the _Canada_ with us, had two large cases of
feather cushions given her by the Princess of Wales--whom we must now
learn to call Queen Alexandra--with the request that they should go to
men in hospital near up to the front. She had promised me that if I went
up-country I should have one of the boxes to distribute.
When we arrived here I found a wire from her saying that she was passing
our station about 8.30 P.M., and would I meet her? She was one of the
sisters who had landed at Cape Town, but was now coming down to a
hospital on this side. So, when we had got our tent straight, we went to
the Lady Superintendent and said that if we were really not wanted on
duty, might we go down to the station after dinner to meet this sister?
She said certainly we might; she was sorry she had some letters to
write, or she would have walked down with us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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